The sustainable rally race in Majorca

Published on Monday, 27 February 2017

And may the most efficient team win. Palma de Mallorca, on the main island of the Spanish archipelago of the Balearic Islands, was the venue for the efficiency race for electric cars, one of the initiatives dedicated to Endesa’s electric mobility, initiatives grouped together under the hashtag #Endesachallenge. The victory did not go to the team that crossed the finish line first, but the one that was able to cover the route using the least energy.

On February 13th, three Nissan Leaf electric cars and three teams competed in a race covering two routes of about 200 kilometers around the island, the Ruta Verde and the Ruta Azul. Each team was formed by a driver and navigator and could rely on the ecaR App, an application for smartphones that calculates routes and finds charging points. The two routes were divided into four stages, each of which coincided with just as many fast charging points installed by Endesa on the island.

On the island of Majorca, the Spanish subsidiary of the Enel Group has created the first Fast Self-Charging Club called ecaR: an intelligent network of six fast charging points (80% of the battery in less than 30 minutes) that is able to ensure full "electric" autonomy for moving around the island.

The race was a unique efficiency competition or, better yet, a sustainable rally race: a sort of slow-food experience of sustainable mobility. Before every recharge, the three teams had to photograph the dashboard with the on-board computer data as "proof" of the energy consumed. At each pit stop, the three teams also received a piece of a puzzle with a stylised drawing of a Loryc Electric Speedster, a 1920 electric-powered sports car, with cutting-edge design and materials for its time, built by the homonymous carmaker founded in Majorca. This historic brand ceased production because of the rise of the big powerhouses in the automobile industry. Today, thanks to the development of new electric motors and fast charging systems, it is making a comeback on the island.

At the end of the first edition of the race an award was given to all the teams, formed by influencers and electric car experts, ready to tell about the new dimension of zero-emission mobility and the new ways of traveling with a model of slow, smart and sustainable tourism.